A change in tempo for Diane Taraz

Tuesday

Jan 9, 2018 at 6:07 PMJan 11, 2018 at 3:57 PM

Maureen Sullivan Maureen Sullivan msullivan@wickedlocal.com

ARLINGTON — Diane Taraz sings sweetly in a simple room, accompanied by guitar and candlelight. Her costumes — from Colonial and Victorian historical and literary figures to a 20th century mill worker — lend depth to what she sings, as well as the sometimes incredible background information that often accompanies each number.

This is how audiences have come to know Taraz over the years — a singer-songwriter who presents the hidden history behind well-known songs, from Christmas carols to the national anthem.

However, there’s more to Taraz than tra-la-la-ing in a hoop skirt.

For one thing, her repertoire includes songs from later centuries, such as the selections within her latest CD, “Let’s Misbehave.” Cole Porter, Sam Cooke, Hoagy Carmichael and Billie Holiday are well represented, along with two compositions from Taraz, “Something to Love” and “Why, Oh Why, Are There Mosquitoes?”

For another, it’s not just Taraz singing and playing guitar and dulcimer. This compilation features a full band of local well-regarded musicians, including Mike Duke, Larry Luddecke, Bill Reynolds and Eric Kilburn.

For a person best known for folk music, Taraz said switching to jazz and blues was “a lot of fun,” but presented several challenges.

“I can’t play these on a guitar … let’s bring in a band,” said Taraz.

Recorded at Wellspring Sound in Acton, “Let’s Misbehave” was recorded in “one long session,” she said. “The songs were done twice, three times at the most … I was doing vocals in a booth, and I wanted to be with the musicians so much, I sang a bit too loud and strong … I had to redo about half the songs…”

Kilburn, who recorded and mastered the CD, helped Taraz get that “old sound” thanks to a box full of springs.

“We just had a blast,” said Taraz.

The CD release concert, which was scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 13, has been postponed due to weather. It will be rescheduled for sometime in March at First Parish in Arlington Center at 8 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation is $20.

“All the stars have aligned …it’s going to be a lot of fun,” she said.

Opening fanfare

Taraz was born in Pittsfield in western Massachusetts, where her father worked at General Electric.

She began developing her musical talents early, taking piano lessons (“that’s how I learned to read music”) and teaching herself how to play guitar.

“I took part in all the school choruses” and graduated from Pittsfield High in 1975, she said.

For a while, music and education went hand in hand for Taraz. She earned an associate degree from Berkshire Community College (“best two years of my college experience,” she said), then transferred to Boston College, where she found her choices limited.

“[At the time], if you were a guy, you go into engineering. If you were a girl, you could be a teacher or nurse,” she said. “The rest of the world was a mysterious black hole …”

Taraz said she took a career assessment test. The results?

“Librarian or forest ranger,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a librarian…”

And apparently, she didn’t want to be a forest ranger, either, so Taraz gave teaching a try.

“I did some student teaching in Waban and Newton … I was thinking, ‘Am I going to spend the rest of my life in school?' ”

Taraz went to Lesley College (now University) in Cambridge, where a special program helped her find work in another field. For the next several years, Taraz worked as a copy editor, working, mostly freelance, with Boston magazine and Houghton Mifflin.

“I worked on the companion book to ‘Eyes on the Prize,'” she said.

She also worked at “real jobs” at Test and Measurement World and Hi Tech Business magazine while also working on her music career.

A change in tempo

In the 1980s, Taraz recorded her first music under the Beacon Records label, performing original and traditional songs.

Then about 15 years ago, she met a researcher named David Ingle, who wanted to present a program on “Images of Women in Traditional Song.” She provided the musical portion of this program, and while interesting, Taraz wanted to change the title.

So she did — first “The Silver Dagger” (“it added a little bit of sizzle”) then to “Songs of the Revolution.”

“It took off,” said Taraz.

Of her 14 solo recordings, “Revolution” remains among her best sellers via online sites such as Pandora.

“I get inquiries from Japan, New Zealand, LA … the world has become totally porous to music sales,” she said.

Taraz also credits the internet for the information she collects on songs.

“The internet is a fabulous invention,” she said. “My goal is finding the ‘first version’ of a song.”

During a recent performance in Dover, Taraz performed the classic “Silent Night” not in the familiar slow version, but in its original 6/8 measure — a quicker pace, almost like a “beer hall” rhythm, she said.

Taraz added there are several songs that have been “sanitized” over the years, so that children could sing them.

“Some of the sea songs are filthy, such as ‘Baltimore Whores’,” she said.

For information on her music and performances, visit www.dianetaraz.com